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DESCRIPTION OF THE BUSINESS AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2020
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]  
DESCRIPTION OF THE BUSINESS AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION
1. DESCRIPTION OF THE BUSINESS AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION
Description of the Business
PBF Energy Inc. (“PBF Energy”) was formed as a Delaware corporation on November 7, 2011 and is the sole managing member of PBF Energy Company LLC (“PBF LLC”), a Delaware limited liability company, with a controlling interest in PBF LLC and its subsidiaries. PBF Energy consolidates the financial results of PBF LLC and its subsidiaries and records a noncontrolling interest in its Consolidated Financial Statements representing the economic interests of PBF LLC’s members other than PBF Energy (refer to “Note 17 - Noncontrolling Interests”).
PBF Energy holds a 99.2% economic interest in PBF LLC as of December 31, 2020 through its ownership of PBF LLC Series C Units, which are held solely by PBF Energy. Holders of PBF LLC Series A Units, which are held by parties other than PBF Energy (“the members of PBF LLC other than PBF Energy”), hold the remaining 0.8% economic interest in PBF LLC. The PBF LLC Series C Units rank on parity with the PBF LLC Series A Units as to distribution rights, voting rights and rights upon liquidation, winding up or dissolution. In addition, the amended and restated limited liability company agreement of PBF LLC provides that any PBF LLC Series A Units acquired by PBF Energy will automatically be reclassified as PBF LLC Series C Units in connection with such acquisition.

PBF LLC, together with its consolidated subsidiaries, owns and operates oil refineries and related facilities in North America. PBF Holding Company LLC (“PBF Holding”) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of PBF LLC. PBF Investments LLC, Toledo Refining Company LLC, Paulsboro Refining Company LLC (“PRC”), Delaware City Refining Company LLC (“DCR”), Chalmette Refining, L.L.C. (“Chalmette Refining”), PBF Energy Western Region LLC, Torrance Refining Company LLC, Torrance Logistics Company LLC and Martinez Refining Company LLC are PBF LLC’s principal operating subsidiaries and are all wholly-owned subsidiaries of PBF Holding. Discussions or areas of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements that either apply only to PBF Energy or PBF LLC are clearly noted in such footnotes.
As of December 31, 2020, PBF LLC also held a 48.0% limited partner interest in PBF Logistics LP (“PBFX”), a publicly-traded master limited partnership (“MLP”) (refer to “Note 3 - PBF Logistics LP”). PBF Logistics GP LLC (“PBF GP”) owns the noneconomic general partner interest and serves as the general partner of PBFX and is wholly-owned by PBF LLC. PBF Energy, through its ownership of PBF LLC, consolidates the financial results of PBFX and its subsidiaries and records a noncontrolling interest in its consolidated financial statements representing the economic interests of PBFX’s unitholders other than PBF LLC (refer to “Note 17 - Noncontrolling Interests”). Collectively, PBF Energy and its consolidated subsidiaries, including PBF LLC, PBF Holding, PBF GP and PBFX are referred to hereinafter as the “Company” unless the context otherwise requires.
Substantially all of the Company’s operations are in the United States. The Company operates in two reportable business segments: Refining and Logistics. The Company’s oil refineries are all engaged in the refining of crude oil and other feedstocks into petroleum products, and are aggregated into the Refining segment. PBFX is a publicly-traded MLP that was formed to operate logistics assets such as crude oil and refined petroleum products terminals, pipelines and storage facilities. The Logistics segment consists solely of PBFX’s operations. To generate earnings and cash flows from operations, the Company is primarily dependent upon processing crude oil and selling refined petroleum products at margins sufficient to cover fixed and variable costs and other expenses. Crude oil and refined petroleum products are commodities; and factors that are largely out of the Company’s control can cause prices to vary over time. The resulting potential margin volatility can have a material effect on the Company’s financial position, earnings and cash flows.
Public Offerings
In connection with certain of the secondary offerings completed in 2015, 2014 and 2013, investment funds associated with the initial investors in PBF LLC exchanged all of their PBF LLC Series A Units for an equal number of shares of PBF Energy Class A common stock which were subsequently sold to the public and, accordingly, no longer hold any PBF LLC Series A Units. The holders of PBF LLC Series B Units, which include certain current and former executive officers of PBF Energy, had the right to receive a portion of the proceeds of the sale of the PBF Energy Class A common stock by the investment funds associated with the initial investors in PBF LLC. PBF Energy did not receive any proceeds from any of the secondary offerings.
Since the secondary offerings, PBF Energy has completed a series of follow-on equity offerings. Such transactions occurring in the three years ended December 31, 2020 are discussed in “Note 17 - Noncontrolling Interests”.
As a result of these equity offerings and certain other transactions such as stock option exercises, as of December 31, 2020, PBF Energy owned 120,122,872 PBF LLC Series C Units and the Company’s current and former executive officers and directors and certain employees and others beneficially owned 970,647 PBF LLC Series A Units. As of December 31, 2020, the holders of PBF Energy’s issued and outstanding shares of Class A common stock have 99.2% of the voting power in the Company and the members of PBF LLC other than PBF Energy through their holdings of Class B common stock have the remaining 0.8% of the voting power in the Company.
Tax Receivable Agreement
PBF LLC intends to have an election under Section 754 of the Internal Revenue Code in effect for each taxable year in which an exchange of PBF LLC Series A Units for PBF Energy Class A common stock as described above occurs, which may result in an adjustment to the tax basis of the assets of PBF LLC at the time of an exchange of PBF LLC Series A Units. As a result of both the initial purchase of PBF LLC Series A Units from the PBF LLC Series A unitholders in connection with the initial public offering of PBF Energy Class A common stock which closed on December 18, 2012 and subsequent exchanges, PBF Energy will become entitled to a proportionate share of the existing tax basis of the assets of PBF LLC. In addition, the purchase of PBF LLC Series A Units and subsequent exchanges have resulted in and are expected to continue to result in increases in the tax basis of the assets of PBF LLC that otherwise would not have been available. Both this proportionate share and these increases in tax basis may reduce the amount of tax that PBF Energy would otherwise be required to pay in the future. These increases in tax basis may also decrease gains (or increase losses) on future dispositions of certain capital assets to the extent tax basis is allocated to those capital assets.
COVID-19 and Market Developments

The impact of the unprecedented global health and economic crisis sparked by the novel coronavirus (“COVID-19”) pandemic and related adverse impact on economic and commercial activity has resulted in a significant reduction in demand for refined petroleum and petrochemical products. This significant demand reduction has had an adverse impact on the Company’s results of operations and liquidity position for the year ended December 31, 2020. In response, the Company has reduced throughput rates across its entire refining system and is currently operating all refineries at reduced rates.
It is impossible to estimate the duration or significance of the financial impact that will result from the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the extent of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and liquidity will depend largely on future developments, including the duration of the outbreak, particularly within the geographic areas where the Company operates, and the related impact on overall economic activity, all of which are uncertain and cannot be predicted with certainty at this time.